656 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF [DeC, 



IV. REPORT OF THE CURATORS. 



The year just completed has been marked b}^ important progress 

 in the arrangement and study of the collections and by the accession 

 of much valuable material. 



The Museum has been visited by a large number of persons and 

 there has been a constant increase in the schools and classes which 

 have come, under the guidance of teachers, to study the collections. 

 Classes in sketching from the School of Industrial Art have made use 

 of» the Museum every week during the winter months, and students 

 from the natural history department of the Girls' High School have 

 studied the collections regularly throughout the school year. The 

 Department of Health of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania has 

 continued to occupy the quarters in the building allotted to it by the 

 Academy some years ago. 



The movement of the centre of the city westward has been dis- 

 tinctly noticeable in the increased number of visitors to the Museum, 

 and the completion of the Parkway, which will pass the front of the 

 Academy, will have a still greater influence in this direction. 



In the builcUng, necessary repairs to the roof and heating plant 

 have been made during the year. The marble wainscoting in the 

 entrance hall has been moved out and backed by brick to form a 

 support for the larger Icthyosaurus fossils which have been mounted 

 thereon, adding greatly to the appearance of the hall. 



A number of large palms in tubs, gift of Mrs. Curwin Stoddart, 

 Jr., have been placed in the entrance halls and the mineralogical 

 room. 



Seven plate-glass exhibition cases have been purchased during the 

 year, three for the mammal and four for the archaeological hall, while 

 plate-glass frames have been provided for covering the large fossils 

 in the entrance hall. 



Twenty-six metsfcl-covered storage cases have been purchased for 

 the study series of mammals and shells, as well as 102 insect boxes 

 and 450 trays. 



Mr. Clarence B. Moore conducted two explorations among the 

 Indian burial mounds along the Tennessee River, adding some valua- 

 ble material to the Clarence B. Moore Collection in the Archseological 

 hall. While the results were not so rich as heretofore in the matter 

 of specimens, the information obtained is of the greatest importance. 



Leave of absence was granted to several members of the Museum 

 staff during the year for the purpose of conducting collecting expedi- 

 tions in the field. Dr. Henry Skinner spent the month of Februar}- 



